Provinces of South Africa
| South African Provinces | |
|---|---|
| Category | Unitary state |
| Location | Republic of South Africa |
| Number | 9 Provinces |
| Populations | 1,145,861 (Northern Cape) – 12,272,263 (Gauteng) |
| Areas | 47,080 km2 (18,178 sq mi) (Gauteng) – 372,890 km2 (143,973 sq mi) (Northern Cape) |
| Government | Provincial government, National government |
| Subdivisions | Districts |
South Africa is divided into nine provinces (Tswana: diporofense; Sotho: diprovense; Northern Sotho: diprofense; Afrikaans: provinsies; Zulu: izifundazwe; Southern Ndebele: iimfunda; Xhosa: amaphondo; Swazi: tifundza; Venda: mavunḓu; Tsonga: swifundzankulu). On the eve of the 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, also known as Bantustans, were reintegrated and the four existing provinces were divided into nine. The twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth amendments to the constitution changed the borders of seven of the provinces.
The Union of South Africa was established in 1910 by combining four British colonies: the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony, the Transvaal Colony and the Orange River Colony. (The latter two were, before the Second Boer War, independent republics known as the South African Republic and the Orange Free State.) These colonies became the four original provinces of the Union: Cape Province, Transvaal Province, Natal Province and Orange Free State Province.
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